5 Simple Email Hacks That Can Boost Your Open Rates

How sure are you that your subscribers actually open your emails?

You could write the world’s most fantastic messages, and still, no one would care to read them. When it comes to email marketing, you are fighting for precious seconds of your recipients’ time, and, truth be told, they would jump at every opportunity not to read what you have to say.

So you’d better not give them such an opportunity. Here are 5 simple hacks that will get your email opened:

1. Keep the subject line short

Your subject line can’t be longer than 50 symbols. The fewer the better, actually.

And it’s not just about our attention spans getting shorter, but also the very simple fact that email clients will cut off whatever exceeds this limit.

And let’s not forget the fact that the majority of recipients (as many as 66%) open emails on their phones or tablets, and these usually display the first 4-7 words. Make them count!

2. Get personal

Starting a subject line with your recipient’s first name is an old trick. It’s been used since the day email marketing appeared, and subscribers aren’t exactly amazed by seeing their names in subject lines.

However, if you think personalization is no longer effective, you couldn’t be more wrong.

The reason for that is purely biological. Numerous researchers have shown that we are naturally programmed to react more actively when we hear our names.

So “Matthew, increase your email open rates with these 5 simple hacks” is actually about 17% more likely to get opened than “Increase your email open rates with these 5 simple hacks”.

Additionally, avoid being too formal. Emails from friends and family always catch our eye first, because they’re friendly and inviting and never formal, so try to make your subject lines and emails sound just like that. Even if your recipient represents a company, they are a human being just like you, so address them as such. For starters, try using “I” and “me” instead of “we” and “our”.

3. Create urgency

Offering limited time deals is another oldie. And yet something about “only today”, “available this week and then never” and “hurry” just keeps making us click. Create a clear time frame for your offer and find a way to incorporate it into your subject line without sounding too cheesy.

4. Avoid “red flag” words

There’s a number of words that have been heavily overused by email marketers in subject lines. These include free, deal, sale, percent off, buy, save, etc. By trying to remove these words from your subject line, not only will you avoid triggering spam filters, you will also find a more creative way to convey your message to the recipients and stand out from the crowd.

5. Invest in content

Imagine that you’ve crafted an excellent, friendly, enticing subject line and the recipient opens your email. You’ve just grabbed their attention and you can’t afford to lose it. So how do you make sure they go on reading and don’t click “unsubscribe” straight away?

By providing high-quality content. You recipient shouldn’t feel like they’ve been fooled or got themselves into a trap. Poor quality content is the first reason why people unsubscribe from email lists. So invest in a good content. Your business will benefit from increased brand loyalty and your audience will continue growing.